How Practice of Nursing is Growing and Changing

Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models Name: Institution:
Evolving Practice of Nursing and Patient Care Delivery Models
The United States has remained committed to transforming its health care system in order to offer quality, seamless, evidence based, patient centered, affordable care that is not only accessible, but also available to all. In order to achieve this basic-need-oriented objective, the U.S is prompted to remodel many aspects associated with the heath care system, including transforming the nursing profession in terms of education, practice, and leadership (Ridge, 2011). The nursing profession acts as a prerequisite to achieving this long term objective because it forms the largest and the most active segment of the healthcare system workforce that mingles with patients on a regular basis. This means that, as the country focuses on restructuring the health care delivery system, nurses will continue playing their roles as nursing jobs will become community based, and less will be available in acute care hospitals. Consequently, nurses will continue to play an important role even after the health care delivery system is successfully restructured. This essay will discuss on how the practice of nursing is expected to grow and change with respect to the concepts of continuity or continuum of care, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), medical homes, and nurse-managed health clinics.
Nurses possess scientific understanding of the necessary care process and a regular close proximity to patients across the continuum of health care provision (Shortell, Gillies & Wu, 2010; Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2011). This predisposes them as important actors in the redesigning of the health care system and practice environment, comprising of retail health clinic, homes, schools, hospitals, battlefields, long-term care facilities, and public and community health centers (IOM, 2011). This is attributed to the nurses' unique ability of acting in partnership with other health professionals and other health stakeholders. This means that nurses are poised to help in bridging the gap between access and coverage in order to manage the increasingly demanding care for increasing range of patients. By doing this, nurses would have fulfilled their role and potential as primary care givers to their full potential with respect to their education and training. Further, nurses are crucial in ensuring high quality of care, preventing medication related errors and reducing infection rates, and even managing the transition of patients to their homes soon after they are discharged (Shortell, Gillies & Wu, 2010).
The remodeling of the U.S health care system has to influence nursing at all levels to give nurses opportunities of practicing to the full potential of their education and training (IOM, 2011). Furthermore, restructuring of the nursing practice aims at providing nurses with more opportunities of assuming leadership positions. This gives them the credit of serving as full health care partners worth of making healthcare improvements and redesigning of necessary policies instead of acting as subordinates (IOM, 2011). Moreover, the Institute of Medicine (2011) asserts that the restructuring should aim at improving collection of data needed for policy making and work force planning. This infers that the restructuring of the U.S health system presents nurses with new structures and opportunities that the advanced practice nurses ought to leverage to provide better and advanced health services to the communities.
For a long time, nursing practice has been constrained by historical, policy and regulatory barriers which have thwarted and subordinated nurses' capacity to take part in widespread healthcare transformation (IOM, 2010). The barriers infringed the nurs...